Tunisia repaid a pound 500-million bond loan for 2017, as part of the list of loan repayments for 2023, bringing foreign exchange reserves down to 112 days of imports. The Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT)'s foreign exchange reserves fell to TND 25 billion, against TND 26.7 billion on October 29, temporary data published on October 30 show. The reserves which covered 119 days of imports and 7 days of the country's capacity to cover its imports, i.e. about TND 1.7 billion, include the amount of the loan in dinars as well as the related interest. The country's current capacity to cover the imports is described as "safe," since Tunisia has already recorded a threshold of less than 90 days, considered by economists as a minimum level that should not be exceeded. The repaymernt of this loan explains the fall in Tunisia's foreign exchange reserves by 9 days, which are still higher than the levels logged during the same period in 2022 (103 days). Remittances from Tunisians abroad amounting to nearly TND 6.1 billion, as well as revenues from the tourism sector (approximately the same amount based on data published on October 20), boosted Tunisia's foreign exchange reserves. The report on the 2023 Supplementary Budget Law states that Tunisia will repay $90 million in October under a Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) loan for 2022. Tunisia is expected to repay US$109 million to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by late 2023 under instalments of the Extended Fund Facility loan (2016-2019).
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse